Ohio Oil Speculation, 1865, Manuscript Archive, Including Correspondence from Parkersburg, West Virginia & Tioga Co., Pennsylvania 

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Jun 13, 2014 - Jun 14, 2014

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• Lot Description
  17 letters and telegrams, dated between Jan. 30 and July 19, 1865. Most are addressed to Daniel Chauncey (Esq.), 31 Wall St., New York. The first telegram is from a business informing these speculators that they can receive an engine about three weeks after it is ordered. The last letter is from a lawyer for Mrs. Parmentier of Tioga, PA, informing them that she wanted them to explore for oil (or anything else of value) on her land as soon as possible, and that since she has had to wait, "...in consequence of your neglect and refusal to do said work & ascertain certainly whether Petroleum oil or other valuable substances can be procured from said land, Mrs. Parmentier has sustained great damages which you are liable to pay."
  
  In between these times, however, the company seems to have been fortunate. The early Feb. letters are from Marietta, Ohio.0 In the first Daniel's brother, Michael, tells him they have arrived in Marietta, the rest of the group has continued and to direct letters to Louisa House in Parkersburg, WV. Most of the letter concerns the trip ("The road is in a most shocking state.") He mentions that they have started drilling and are waiting for an engine (to pump the well?). The next day, he received a telegram from C.B. Quackenbush (whom his brother continually refers to as Quackingboss!) stating: "Have struck a large show of oil in the Poor House well."
  
  A week later, Michael becomes ill, and several letters address his condition, inability to travel, etc. A telegram from J.S. King on March 6 informs Daniel "Your Brother is better probably start for home this week."
  
  A long letter from Marietta summarizes activity for the past week or so. "We arrived at this place to day. In the afternoon we took a team and visited the wells on the Hildreath & Poor House Farms." He goes on to give details of the Poor House wells, and notes: "I have a bottle full of the very best lubricating oil, taken out of the conductor with a tin cup on the end of a stick. It was in a bason [sic] and the men used it for the purpose of greasing their boots. By looking in the conductor you can see it float in the water. The contractor told us of all the wells he ever bored he never saw such indications in his life; and thinks that we are bound to have a splendid well. He is a fine man and is ready to work for us when the engines arrive, which I thought would have been here by this time." He goes on to lament that if the engines had arrived, he did not know how they would get to the wells. "Such roads no man at the north could possible conceive, unless seeing them. Mud is no name for them. Two feet deep of soft putty would give you a faint idea of them if you had to drive through it with a wagon."
  
  April 5, Quackenbush writes that the engines have arrived and he has placed them at each of the wells. "There has been two very fine wells struck lately, one on Big Run yielding 25 barrels per day, the other near Macksburgh yielding 50 barrels per day." He is also inquiring whether they should keep the same crew to operate the engines.
  
  The next letter is from W.W. Marshall, addressing Mr. Chauncey as "Uncle," and referring to his father coming out to Ohio from New York. Apparently a family affair! Marshall also indicates that they have gotten the best rates that are available for drilling, and they need additional tools so the men can work on multiple wells simultaneously.
  
  Three telegrams apparently refer to equipment needed or not working ("Boiler worthless"). But Marshall writes again, telling Mr. Chauncey: "The Oil excitement here is at a decided ebb; and if you can judge from present appearances, in 6 months from now the Oil speculation will be entirely abandoned in this State." He also lists the bills he has paid and what still needs to be paid or will be incurred shortly, since a couple of their wells have collapsed and will need to be lined and cleaned out. His next letter informs Chauncey how deep each well is and what kinds of rocks they are encountering. "Business is very dull, and in my opinion if the Oil excitement does not revive by next Spring, it will put an end to the Oil business in this place.
  
  Fortunately, young Marshall was not correct, although the focus of the petroleum industry shifted a bit farther north than the Marietta-Athens area. The major reserves were discovered in northwest Ohio, from Toledo west into Indiana. In the decade spanning the turn of the 20th century, Ohio was the leading producer of crude oil, with its peak in 1896, until finally surpassed by Texas and Oklahoma about 1902. In the early years Pennsylvania and West Virginia surpassed Ohio, so it was natural for the early speculators to look in southeast Ohio, since the region is adjacent to PA and WV. 

  Condition

  Most in very good condition. All still have their covers, which are toned and soiled.It appears as though the letters were stored in the envelopes for most of the last century, and so are in great condition.
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